Saturday, February 28, 2015

I've got several days of leave to take before the end of March so I've now got 3 or 4 day weeks for a while, which is great, and most importantly, allows me to nap on the sofa on Friday afternoons while I re-watch Smallville, which I'm sure most of you know I love. Smallville is my go to telly series for when I'm ill or don't want to think, or have a lazy day planned, so I'm currently on season 10. Today I watched:
Warrior (which had Lois in an Amazon Princess outfit which is glorious)
Persuasion, which had Lois gaining the values of a traditional 50s housewife, while still being quintessentially Lois
Conspiracy, which is really, really quite dark
and Escape, which has Lois and Clark on a romantic getaway, to the same place that Oliver and Chloe go to, not for romance, but for a dirty weekend. It's also got the Silver Banshee, whom I love. Particularly, I love her costume, so I got to thinking what could a casual Banshee cosplay look like.

This is the traditional Silver Banshee costume:

Now because I like the aesthetic so much I would love to do a true to the comic version of this costume, but I'm not sure I'd ever have the confidence to wear something so form fitting. I also have a thing for Marvel's Black Cat's costume (it must be the monochrome), and a while ago I saw a great casual cosplay on tumblr.

Long story short, I was inspired by Smallville's episode and the Black Cat costume to come up with a casual outfit for the Silver Banshee.
These are the rules I'm playing to:

It's con casual, not everyday casual. So it's something that needs to be recogniseable to other comic fans.

The outfit must ape the banshee's costume enough to be recogniseable but must consist of ordinary clothes I would myself wear everyday.

At a con you'd want to do Silver Banshee makeup, then I think you'd be recogniseable. What do you all reckon?

Alternatives:
Instead of the jeans you could do black tights and a black lycra mini skirt. Instead of the tops I've chosen you could do a tight black vest, but then you'd need to sew on white panels to approximate the Banshee's vest. This version would probably only work for summer.

Things I have learnt:
I hate clothes shopping, even virtually, and even when it's costume related.
I don't know the terms for enough types of garments to search effectively.
I'm probably not cut out for these sort of posts.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

I've just seen news that Calista Flockhart is going to be playing Cat Grant on the Supergirl telly show.
I don't think I like this. I hated Ally McBeal. Hopefully Flockhart has more range than I saw on that godawful show. I don't know the other actresses thus far named for the show so have no opinions on them.

I can tell you that I listened to Supergirlradio.com last week and episode 2, discussing the film, was delightful.

On a related note (ish), I found out that the Wondy film starts filming later this year. Hurrah! I think I want to start reinstating my Wonder Woman Wednesday/Super Sexy Saturday/Super Silly Sunday posts. I just need to time to locate and blog all the images I've got saved on tumblr and twitter.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

I was all out of talking and then lying in bed last night stuff hit me and I had an urge to get everything out. Which is why I write,

I've switched bras. I'm now in the ones I got fitted for in Feb last year, going from a 30 back to a 34 back. This isn't because the top of my torso has got fatter, it's because my bump is pushing all my organs up so I'm wider around the ribcage, I was a month ahead this time last year.

Have I mentioned how my bump is a different shape? It's lower. At night when I roll over in bed sometimes I need to support my bump, or it pulls at my pelvis/groin. I didn't have to do that last time either. Mind you, last time I ran my first ever (and likely only) 10k race at 4 weeks gone. I'd been going to the gym regularly for the previous year or so and my torso muscles were so much stronger. Now they so, so much weaker. Even the pilates can't make them tough again, not with a 5 month gap between pregnancies. Ah well, it doesn't bother me.

I've been pretty tired these last few days. And continuously hungry today. It must be having a growth spurt. Hopefully I'll get regular movements soon, then I can stop fretting that it's died inbetween midwife appointments.

My current fear is that I'll develop, or that I have, gestational diabetes. So I want to have more fruit in the house and eat less sugar, but sometimes I just want sugar! It's nothing out of the ordinary, just an ordinary craving, but it worries me. I was using the myfitnesspal app to log my food, I used it before falling with C, after losing him, and continued using it until a couple of weeks ago when I just got fed up. I liked it because it reassured me that I was eating what was necessary, and not just eating junk food. After falling again I set it to maintain for the first tri, then to gain by half a pound a week for the second tri. Now, without it, I don't think I'm overeating and I am listening to my body more, so that's good.

I feel like i'm repeating last year, month for month, in symptoms, but the gestational dates don't match. It's eerie,

I have a physio appointment next week to look at my knee. I'll explain more about that later. Considering when I left the message to book the appointment I asked them to look at my records, they didn't and had no idea of my history. So I had to explain. Gaahh. They are situated in the damn maternity unit, why can't they look up records???

Monday, February 23, 2015

I had wanted this to be some sort of in depth exercise in comics journalism but I kind of stalled when doing a small bit of research. So instead I'll just put out some unsupported conjecture.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about DC's new publishing direction. I get frustrated when fans don't understand the long lead in times for deciding creative direction and producing a comic. When I read the Multiversity guidebook last weekend (it's really rather good) I came across a story with Earth 8 and Earth 42.

Earth 8's logo:

Earth 42's inhabitants, named the Little League:

In the last panel they've been taken over, they weren't always red eyed monsters.

Now, the Little League most likely were developed from the chibi Justice League from the pre New 52 Superman/Batman series:

But, to get to the point of when this stuff is developed, I think Morrison's Multiversity concept was developed in 2012 or 2013. i.e. about 2 years before it was first published. I think this because there is a webcomic, now called JL8, but which was originally called Little League.

I first came across and reviewed this webcomic for New readers... in 2012. I know this because that's when the review was published, and I didn't write reviews too far in advance back then. The review states that were about 40 strips published at that point. I remember seeing a post from the creator, Yale Stewart, saying that DC had contacted him telling him stop using the name Little League because, if my memory serves me right, his webcomic's use of the name was copyright infringement or some similar thing. Apparently it was a legal letter and I got the impression it was pretty official and scary looking. So he changed the name to JL8. I reflected the name change in my post, but sadly I didn't note the date of when this happened. That'll learn me.

So, go have a look through at the JL8 tumblr. Notice the chibi style of the characters.

Now to my recollection the chibi Justice League were never named the Little League in the Superman/Batman issues they appeared in, or in the Halloween or Christmas issues they had an appearance in (It was one or t'other).

So, my point is that if DC sent a letter to the creator of JL8 in 2012 or 2013 saying he couldn't use the Little League name, that could mean that they were thinking about and planning out Morrison's Multiversity as far back as then. The ideas could have been purely at concept stage, or they could be being drawn out and the Multiversity being created and nailed down.

(I wish I knew the date of the change, or could find the post that Yale Stewart, the creator put up announcing the name change).

Or it could mean that DC were looking to capitalise on the Chibi Justice League at some point but they weren't sure when or how. I think this idea is unlikely though, as the New 52 was launched in August 2011 so I think they'd be mostly busy with that and not with very conceptual ideas that might never see light. What would be the point? If they were annoyed with the JL8/Little League series existing they could have filed a proper take down notice to the creator. They didn't, they just said the name had to change,

Of course, this could just be wild conjecture from me, but I think it goes some way to demonstrate how far in advance DC plan their storytelling. It's for sure not just a few months in advance.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

I feel really exposed publishing all those pregnancy posts. I am actually a really private person and I don't like discussing my feelings, certainly not face to face, although I can manage it online.

As I said in the first post, I published this stuff because people need to know that babies die, and that this goes on in the midst of the rest of life, and that somehow, the rest of life goes on, whether we want it to or not. I still read comics. I still piss about on twitter and tumblr. I go to work. I see some friends. I eat and I shit and I sleep and I breathe. My body forces me too. Grief sits alongside all that. Losing your baby... everything has changed and nothing has changed. People need to understand that. Just because I go on with normal everyday life does not mean I am normal, that I have forgotten, that I am not hurting. I will continue to hurt and I will miss my son until my dying breath and I just have to learn how to deal with that.

The second reason for posting is that others with rainbow pregnancies, or wanting rainbows, are probably looking for similar experiences and evidence of how life continues with all this stuff happening too. I know that's what I wanted last year. I didn't want specialist baby loss books. I wanted to know how this rawness could fit alongside everyday activities.

I deliberately did not blog C's pregnancy, because there are hundreds of first pregnancy blogs out there and I had nothing to add. I also wanted things kept private. I still want things kept private. There are things I will never ever ever post on here. But now, there is a need for people to talk about rainbow babies and to see how it fits with the rest of their lives. I have not been able to find any blogs about this that are not exclusively about this, and so I want more. So there must be others who want more as well. So maybe I can help.

Of course, writing like this, for others, gives me a more objective feel, it sets me outside of my situation, and that helps because then it hurts less, for a bit.

One thing this will not become is a campaigning blog. My son is worth more than that and I will not have him reduced to a slogan or a movement.

So a few words on language.
Please do not ever refer to my son, or any other children, as 'a stillbirth'. Say that he died. Or say he 'was stillborn', or that he was born still. Referring to him as 'a stillbirth' is dehumanising. He is not an event, a thing which just happened to me and then left. He is a person and he deserves to be recognised as such.

Also, the word stillbirth does not really convey what happened - people don't understand that it means the child died in utero. By referring to him as 'a stillbirth' (a noun?) you are making the circumstances of his birth the important thing, and people can file it in their minds without really understanding. By saying he was stillborn (a verb?) you make him the subject and you describe how he was born (except you don't really because children die at all sorts of stages, before and during labour, and after, quite regularly). That's important. But best of all, you should say he died and then say he was stillborn.

I thought quite carefully about how to title these posts. I decided on pregnancy after stillbirth rather than pregnancy after loss, or rainbow pregnancy, or second pregnancy, because I wanted it to be absolutely clear. I wanted there to be no confusion. I want people to come across this and go 'oh, stillbirth, that means they died in utero, that means babies die before they are born'. If I titled these posts pregnancy after loss people might think that he died at a few hours or a few days old. Those situations are just as terrible, but they aren't my situation.

I'll just say something about miscarriage - I hate that word. Everyone knows about first tri miscarriage, but very few know what it involves. No one knows about second tri miscarriage. You have to labour if your baby dies after 14 weeks. If your baby dies and you deliver him or her at 23 weeks and 6 days, your baby is classed as a miscarriage. If your baby dies and you deliver him or her at 24 weeks exactly, your baby is classed as being stillborn.

No one can tell me that the baby is less of a baby for being born a day earlier.

Miscarriage is a vastly misunderstood term and doesn't convey the horror of your baby dying. As far as I'm concerned your baby is a baby as soon as you decide it is, whether that's 5 weeks, 15 weeks or 25 weeks. 'Miscarriage' seems to reduce them to being abstracts when really, if they die after 16 weeks you've probably already heard their heartbeat and felt them move. And yet they are never legally classed as a person. I realise the 24 week thing in the UK is linked to viability and also probably our abortion laws, and someone more sophisticated than me will have to come up with a solution, but it seems to me that the term miscarriage is a cruel one.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

The Limping Chicken has today published a post titled 'Are Interpreters like #SignGuy, who sign during public emergencies, going viral for the right reasons?'.

The article goes on to discuss the hearing population's reactions to sign language interpreters they deem as particularly animated and amusing, and the reasons why the signing might be so expressive. Please go read it. There are linguistic reasons why some signing is bigger, more animated and larger than life, I guess.

I got to thinking whether hearing people would be so interested in a Deaf person's signing. Would a Deaf person on telly get the same sort of social media fans, would they get a hashtag dedicated to them. In my experience, hearing people, unless they are involved in the Deaf community and or learning BSL, have a special sort of admiration for Interpreters that they don't have interpreters or translators of other languages. Part of this is the obvious beauty of BSL, when a language is visual it's easier to appreciate than a spoken language (or is that just me?). But hearing people seem to have special credence and admiration for sign language terps, beyond the visual nature of it.

I think it's driven by the pretty low awareness people have of sign languages, so when they do pay attention they are impressed, and then they think a sign language is either really hard or really easy to learn, in a way they don't apply to spoken languages. You'll see loads of people claiming that they can understand interpreters on the telly. Unless you've studied the language you can't. People don't do this with French or Japanese.

Then people seem to think that BSL Interpreters are performing a selfless act. They think of the profession and skills as being really rewarding. I used to volunteer in the local Deaf Centre's cafe. I had someone tell me that must be really rewarding. Erm, I served teas and coffee?? That's not rewarding. I volunteered because it was a good break from my regular job and I really enjoyed the social side of it. I liked chatting with the regulars. I got far more from them than they got from me, not least because I can make really bad cups of tea and it took me months to remember the sign for kit-kat.

Some people can't see that interpreters get satisfaction from just doing a job well. They don't see the intricacies of the job, or the difficulties, or the hard situations a terp might be places into. They don't consider the pleasure in finding accurate interpretations for complex concepts.

So because of this they don't regard interpreting as a real job. Yet when faced with an actual Deaf person who used BSL they'd be completely stuck and they wouldn't know what to do. They'd feel awkward. They wouldn't know how to speak to them.

I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this or how logical it is. I think I'm just a bit put out that despite some peoples interest in BSL they wouldn't think to learn it or think of Deaf people as normal people.

Friday, February 20, 2015

I don't think I can stand properly...
I have a weakness for superhero beefcake. You may have noticed. I've never seen Game of Thrones. I have no idea what Momoa is like in that. I don't really have much interest in seeing it either, not even to check Momoa out. I'd rather just see him as Aquaman.

If we can get away from my loins for a moment or two let's talk about this image.
He's not blonde. He's got light streaks, but he's not blonde. I don't care. He's beardy. That's a major plus in my book.

He looks fierce, and dangerous, and not to be messed with. That's entirely right. He's the king of a nation, a monarch who leads his people into war. He should look tough. The Atlanteans aren't a warrior nation like the Themscyrians (which I can never spell right), but they have a formidable army and unlike our real world cultures the King and Queen are at the frontline of all battles. So they've reflected that, and that's great.

The trident looks nice. Not a traditional design, but it's good. The minimal armour is nicely designed. The tattoos are a good touch too. We don't normally see his highness with tattoos, but they suit Momoa and we all know the Man of Steel DC Universe is very different from the comics, so that's cool by me. I don't care that it's not orange and green.

Now the phrasing. I'm a sucker for impassioned slogans. I like the choice of font and the way it's emblazoned over Momoa's body language, looking like he's going to rip you to shreds if you try and mess with him. It's inspiring. I first thought that the Seven referred to the Justice League. As in he'll bring them together. Somewhere online think it refers to the seven seas, but that's daft, because he's already monarch of the seas. I think the slogan means that the studio is uniting the key seven League members, or that Arthur has a pivotal role to play in getting the League formed. He was a founder member after all.

All in all, good work Movie studio people. That image is cool as all heck. Hnnnggghhh.

Had another midwife appointment today. She found the heartbeat really quickly, and kept with it. I'm so relieved. It sounded like a galloping horse.

It's been a rough week. Friday to Sunday was just bad. Monday and Tuesday was OK, but I've had terrible shoulders and neck. So stiff and inflamed. I've worked out pillows to support me on the sofa in bed and on my office chair but it's not perfect. I use my body length u shaped pillow when lying down on the sofa, my dream genii lite one in bed to support my back along with one between my legs and a v shaped one at work on my chair.

I also sit on my exercise ball which helps get my pelvis into a better position and vastly reduces my pelvis pain. My pelvic girdle pain is likely to get worse the further along I get so I need to do what I can to relieve it now. My osteopath checked my pubic bone and that's not separating yet so that's good. I'm sure I've heard my hips clicking and grinding though. That's pretty rough. Walking makes my pubic bone and pelvic girdle area hurt, which is shitty, to say the least. I'll just need to make sure I get the bus more often.

As for movements, they are there, not very often, but they are there. They aren't as definite as they were at 14 + 4/5/6 when I first felt them, but they are there. They'll get stronger.

I slept for 12 hours last night. I've also been hungrier the last couple of days so I figure it's going through a growth spurt. I remember this with C. I've checked photos from last time and I'm about the same now as I was at roughly 22 weeks. I don't feel very big though. I'm still half convinced it's just fat from too many pies.

Having said I slept for 12 hours, over the last few weeks I have been less tired, so I guess it's that second tri energy boost that I thought was a myth. I haven't been nauseous for a few weeks either. That's nice. Can't quite believe I'm nearly 17 weeks.. that's almost halfway there.. every day everything is fine is a good day.

I also think that I've started warming up. I haven't been *really* cold in about a week or so, and I don't think the weather has changed that much.

Today is a better day. Or at least it is since my appointment. This morning I was super anxious. I had to go into town and couldn't face going to familiar places to do some food shopping, so went and had lunch instead which distracted me. I think it will be like this every time before an appointment, which is one reason why I hate having appointments. I need them, I need to go, but I hate the build up beforehand.

I told my midwife about some weird stomach pains I've had - just two, on different days and lasting for no more than a minute. She said it's nothing to worry about. Could be gas, could be my body just being pregnant. I said I didn't want to ring up the midwives because at this stage, if there's something wrong they can't do anything and I'd rather not know. I kind of just want to bury my head in the sand until 21/22 weeks when they can do something. I feel so guilty about this, like it will lead to this rainbow dying. If I got bleeding or sustained, repeated cramping or pain that lasted more than half an hour, I would ring the midwives, but if it's less than that I want to ignore it. My midwife said that attitude is fine. It's not a wrong way to behave or think. So I feel less reprehensible now.

This is so damn hard. I still hate seeing newborns, or babies that are about the age C would have been. A woman at work brought her new baby (maybe 4 months?) in last week, Thankfully I was in a meeting so didn't have to see her, but it nearly broke me anyway. I cannot believe that no one told me she would be coming in. Just because I am pregnant again does not mean I am OK. It does not make C's death any easier. Having a rainbow gives me a reason to live. It does not mean my son is less important, or that things are less painful. I cannot believe I have to write this out and that people don't automatically know it. Thankfully my immediate team at work are really understanding and are happy to shield me from things when they can. I will be forever grateful for that. But it doesn't stop it hurting.

I've had lots of changes in the last week. My legs have been really uncomfortable in the evenings - itching and restless (in fact I'm itchy all over), but previously when I've laid down in bed they've felt better really quickly. Then about 5 days ago they weren't improving. So I slept with a pillow between my knees. It was blissful. I have no idea why it helps but it does.

The a couple of nights later I kept waking up with sore hips and a sore back. At 15 weeks it's really too darn early for this stuff! I got out my amazing U shaped pillow of wonders but it's not really helping this time. I might try shopping for another sort of pregnancy pillow.

I've been less tired the last couple of weeks, or week, I think. This might signal the mythical second tri energy boost I heard so much about last time. I've certainly been less nasueous this last week.

At pilates I feel like my muscles haven't been used for weeks. This is daft, because I walk for 50 minutes to get to the damn class. My pelvis has also shifted again. Bah. I'm seeing the osteopath on Thursday so she should fix that.

I can no longer sleep on my stomach. Haven't been able to for a couple of weeks. I'm getting the heartbeat checked tomorrow at the midwife appointment and I will talk to her about movements, because if they can't get the heartbeat and I'm not feeling movements I will panic.

I also have a counselling asessesment tomorrow which I am not looking forward to. I know it's a good thing to do but I don't really want counselling. I want CBT, if anything. Bleurgh.

OK. So I'm at 14 weeks. This means that whatever happens I am going to be delivering an actual baby. If the baby dies tomorrow, I go through a full labour. I guess I could end up having a c-section, but that would only happen towards the end of the pregnancy if we ran into preventable problems. However, if this baby dies in utero I'll be labouring. That's fine. I want to labour.I'm in a flap about movements. You can start feeling movements from 14 weeks with your second. I felt C at about 16/17 weeks. Now, I'm focusing a lot of my attention on my belly trying to understand what I'm feeling.It feels different to how it did a few weeks ago. I know when I've got gas in my organs because that's high up. I feel like my uterus area is fuller, and that there is something going on there, but it's not distinct. I remember with C I knew it was him because I could just feel something moving. I don't have that sensation yet, my uterus area just feels different to how it did a couple of weeks ago.The 12 week scan confirmed my placenta was at the front, but they did say it could move around. They said that with C, it didn't. People say that if your placenta is at the front you'll likely feel movement later, but my placenta was at the front with C and I still felt him early.Gaaahhhhhh.

I'm getting confused with dates. I keep thinking I'm further ahead than I am, or that I'm at 37 weeks. Clearly I'm not at 37 weeks, but my head can't seem to grasp the actual date. Each Friday, as the week rolls into the next one, I am certain of the date, by Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I am lost again, time just rolls on and everything is a blur. I could be at any stage.

I have begun to rub my belly, even though the bump is all stomach and other organs. My uterus has expanded above my pubic bone, yes, but 98% of the bump is just me. I'm intrigued by how my growing belly feels, but also I desperately want to be rubbing it feeling the baby. I have quite a way to go until that happens. With C, I don't think I started rubbing my belly until the third trimester. I found myself doing it unconsciously. I guess it instinctively soothes us and the baby when they are big enough to be moving round and really changing our shape.

Which brings me onto movements. Some women can feel their second children move from 14 weeks. I am desperate to feel this one move. And scared, because when they start moving they can stop.

I have been paying such close attention to my womb area this last-nearly-week. On Monday it felt tight a couple of times. Not like cramping or contractions, but kind of full, and full of pressure. And it wasn't my bladder. I have been very aware of any bubble sensations in my abdomen, but they have all been so high up my torso, its definitely not happening in my uterus.

On one occasion where I think I've felt a bubble in my womb area, I don't know if it's wishful thinking or plain old run of the mill pregnancy gas. With C I was pretty sure that what I was feeling was movements, and that was at 16-17 weeks. So I expect that I'll def be feeling movements at 16 weeks with this one, but hopefully I'll start feeling something next week. Just a little nudge here and there to tell me they are doing OK, that they are still around.

So, I typed up the care plan post yesterday, Today is about reflecting on where I am. Messy mostly.

When I lie down I can feel my stomach much higher than it was a few weeks ago. I can't pull my navel in as far as I could a few weeks ago. I can feel my uterus above my pubic bone - it's quite solid. I could first feel this about a week ago. It's larger now. I'm clumsier than I was - that could well be stress. I got a few shooting pains down my bum/leg earlier today. That reminded me of the sciatica I had with C, but much later on. My chin hairs are growing much more quickly. My head hair is thick. I woke up with lower back aches, that hasn't happened in a while. My linea nigra hasn't much changed. My stretch marks have faded a hell of a lot after the last nearly 8 months. I'm quite sad about that. I liked them all purple and fresh, they had a beauty to them.

In the city today I went a bit funny. I just started feeling off colour - like I needed to sit down, then like I needed to eat something. I got a bit sad and shaky. I put this down to hormones. I went and got lunch and felt emotional, in waves. Then I had a massage, which although it's a deep tissue massage and therefore painful, I also find quite meditative and relaxing.

In my head, I feel a bit relaxed after the dating scan. But also worried. Just worried in a different way now. Worried about different things. I started telling people at work after the scan, and they are all really happy for us, but it makes me feel really uneasy being this open. Like I'm going to have to tell them soon that I am no longer pregnant and this one has died. I also got a few stories of other people's losses, and that makes me unbearably sad, that so many of us have to lose our children, whether it's in the first stage or the last stage.

I told someone who doesn't know my history too - another lady in my pilates class. That got awkward, but I think I handled it well. She thought it was my first pregnancy, as you would, and said I didn't look too excited, so I said I am very high risk, then as the conversation developed I said something about how I'm tired all the way through my pregnancies, so she knows it's not my first, but she clearly doesn't think I got as far as I did. Which is fine, I don't know if I really want to tell her, because it's an awful thing to put on someone.

She did come up to me at the end and apologise for being insensitive, which she wasn't being at all, she was reacting to pregnancy news with joy and happiness, which is entirely right and it's how people should react. I am honestly glad that people are excited for us, we should be happy too, but it's so hard. I think I reassured her that she shouldn't feel bad, I hope I did. She did nothing wrong.

Telling people makes me feel queasy. Gods know how I'm going to cope with the women in the pregnancy pilates class.... if they ask if it's my first I won't lie, but that's an awful thing to tell a pregnant woman, especially first time mothers. But they need to know babies die and they need to know what they can do to stop it. I think I'll have to follow it up with the correct movement advice. Ye gods, this is an awful position to be in.

We had our 12 week dating scan and our first meeting with the consultant (this pregnancy), so I wanted to write up how the meeting went in the hope that it will help some others. Reading other people's accounts would certainly have helped me.Remember that we had no known cause for C's death and our care plan reflects this. If you lost your baby to a genetic disorder (inherited or random), or if you had an infection, or placental problems, or an incompetent cervix, your care plan will likely be very different. Also remember that I was 34 when I fell this time and I had a vaginal delivery with C. If I were older, or younger, or had a cesarean, this care plan would look different.We had the dating scan first, the sonologist was lovely, warm and friendly. I actually thought she was a nurse at first, because she had that smiling manner that I don't associate with doctors.She let us see the screen from the start, pointed out the heartbeat, facial bones, arms, legs, etc. She measured the nuchal fold, it's in normal parameters. She confirmed it has a stomach. She let us watch it for a while. She said everything was absolutely fine, as normal.

She said the movement was normal and as she'd expect, She dated us at 12 + 6 which matches up with the dates given at the 10 week scan and puts us a few days ahead of where I thought I was. The dating scan can never be 100% accurate, different sonologists can measure slightly differently and it depends on what position the baby is in as to how accurate the measurements are. The dating scan is to give a baseline to work out your due date and to make sure you are not wildly differing from the date of your last monthly period.Then we met the consultant. Throughout all this we were in the regular antenatal/sonology department, and there are tons and tons of pictures of new babies on the walls, and it was horrible. On the plus side, it seemed liked most women there were getting called into see consultants so I guess it was high risk Thursday. That made me feel slightly better - that we weren't the only ones in trouble I mean.

Then we saw the consultant, he had another doctor with him, one of his team, she was OK. Good enough. The consultant briefly discussed what we agreed upon at the last meeting, e.g. more scans and I could labour or a c-section. He checked my file and said all was normal. I can't really remember the exact details of this part because he then said something about did we have any questions and I pulled out my A4 sheet and said, oh yes I have a lot of questions. So the rest of this post is my write up of what he said.

General questions:Who do we ring at each stage if we think there is a problem? - Pre 22 weeks, ring the midwife. 22 weeks plus, ring the delivery suite. No one can do anything to help the baby if it's under 22 weeks gestation. So now it's just a waiting game. I feel a bit relieved by this, like the pressure is off.

Is it worth taking aspirin? - Current research is that aspirin doesn’t do any harm, but there’s not much evidence to say it has a positive effect. For that reason he doesn’t prescribe them. I had no placental or umbilical cord problems so there is no need for me to take them.

Am I at lower risk of pre-eclampsia, placental problems and an incompetent cervix? Yes to all. Well, I didn't ask about the cervix because I felt a bit silly and was having trouble getting my words out. I'm def lower risk for placental problems and pre-eclampsia though.

Perma thrush results - Remember how a few posts ago I was whinging about my unidentifiable muff itching? 4 GP prescriptions for thrush and one swab later and it's still there. So the consultant and his doc checked the swab results and confirmed everything came back normal. The doc checked me and couldn’t see anything, She thinks it is the scar healing (I got a second degree tear in labour). She ignored me saying it itched in my last few weeks of pregnancy and before I even got pregnant first time. So I don't think it's the scar healing, but I also think it's just something I have to put up with. So long as it's not an infection I can cope.

Can I have a test to see if I am immune to Toxoplasmosis? - This is not available on the NHS. I suspect this means our NHS trust doesn't offer it. Anyway, 50% of people who grew up with cats are immune to toxoplasmosis. If blood tests show women have the virus, this does not mean it will infect the baby, if it does infect the baby there is no way to tell what effect it will have, if any at all. So they don't offer the tests as they can unnecessarily women. I'm happy with this, I think I'm fairly low risk and I always wash my hands after being around cats.

I was going to ask 'what does the consultant do?, 'what is he responsible for as opposed to the midwife? and 'what are the warning signs or problems in pregnancy?', but I decided not to. I know who to call if I'm having problems and I know I'll only see the consultant after scans. I'll be thinking every little twinge is something going wrong so I'm best off just calling the midwife.I am also going to pluck up the courage to read bits of the hated What to Expect book again. This book is great, if your pregnancy is low risk, remains low risk and you get a live healthy baby. If it all goes wrong without any warning it's too late to read the ENTIRELY SEPARATE section on problems in pregnancy. This section should be incorporated into the rest of the book, because how many expectant parents will anticipate they might need this section.

Scans and appointments:What will they check for at each appointment? Heart rate, amniotic fluid levels, growth (every 2 weeks - any more often than that and it’s not reliable), blood flow through the umbilical cord at 20 weeks and from 28 weeks, organs etc at the 20 week anomaly scan. CTG monitoring will be used when I come in for emergency scans - where they measure heart rate against movement.

Will we meet the consultant after each scan? - We will meet him or one of his team. he can't guarantee to be working every time we have a scan.

Are the scans going to be doppler scans? Yes.

Will the scans check for growth, heart rate and blood flow? Yes

I want scans at 20, 24, 28, 32, 34, 36 weeks. What if I want more scans later on? Scans are now arranged for 20, 24, 28, 32, 35, 37 weeks. I can ask for more if I want them later on, but there’s no point having them more frequently than fortnightly as they can’t tell much if they are more often.

Are there any risks to ultrasounds? Not as far as they know.

We decided against a 16 week scan, as the Early Pregnancy Unit sonologist confirmed they can’t pick up all problems at 16 weeks, these are picked up at 20 weeks, and if they do pick up a problem there is nothing we can do. So I don't want a 16 week scan - I'll have weekly heartbeat checks by the midwife from 14 and a half weeks and that will do me.

Third trimester:How do steroid injections to develop the lungs work? When do I need to take them? What are the risks? Steroid injections won’t be given later than 35 weeks if I intend to labour. If I decide on a c-section they can be given up to 37 weeks.

Can I meet the midwives before delivery -The consultant will check if this is possible at the 35 week scan as the rotas will be arranged then. This has not been requested before but he doesn't see why it can't be arranged, provided the right midwives are around.

What is current movement advice? Consultants say if there’s any change ring them - they follow RCOG guidelines. I told them community midwives and delivery suite say 12 movements a day is normal and expected and if that's wrong (it is) they they need to get the community midwives to stop giving out that advice. I said if I'd known the guidance was to worry when movement changed I'd have gone in the day before, or the day before that. The consultant said he'd speak to the head midwife about changing the advice.That was the hardest part of the meeting - telling them I think their advice is shoddy and implying that my son could have been saved if they gave out correct advice. I feel awful. Not because I feel bad for how they'd take it, but because it brings up all sorts of awful memories and emotions for me, mostly retaining to it being my fault C died. The fact was every. single. midwife, I saw, whether that was the community midwives at my regular antenatal appointments, the 2 that delivered the ante-natal classes, and the midwives on the delivery suite who I rang when I was concerned about movements earlier in the pregnancy said:If you are worried about changes in movement, ring us, but we only expect you to feel 12 movements a day.This advice was given out even when it was raised that I usually felt more 60, or 80 movements, so if it dropped to 12 wasn't that a problem. I was told no.I'm not holding any one midwife to account here - I adore my regular midwife, she was great. I'm sure the full midwifery team was giving out this advice with a clear conscience and that they believed it to be right. I'm angry at the training they are given and I am angry that the consultant team gives out different advice, because by the time you see the consultant team it's too bloody late.

Can I have test for group b strep test at 35 weeks? I think they said the blood test is not available on the NHS, again I suspect this means is not available from this NHS trust. However if I go to the GP and ask for a vaginal swab to be taken at 35 weeks because I am itching, they will test for Group B Strep and everything else as standard, as I am pregnant.What other tests are available? None that are recommended. The diabetes test at 28 weeks is always done for women in my position.

Labour:I want the heartrate to be monitored, can I move around while this happens? They can monitor with a battery operated thing, or use something plugged into the wall which will give me some freedom of movement.

How are they going to monitor me and the baby? The baby’s heartrate will be monitored throughout labour by the above described machines.

They want to induce me between 37 and 38 weeks. I want to be induced at bang on 37 weeks. They will use the scans to determine the health and size of the baby and work out when is best to deliver. I confirmed I want to labour, not have a c-section.

I also wanted to ask these questions but decided they would be best off being brought up closer to the time:What are the warning signs or problems in labour?Will I have a machine to measure both heartbeats and antibiotics to stop any infections?When is the earliest I can deliver - I want 36 to 37 weeks. Talk me through the risks and complications.Will the consultant be there at labour?Who else will be there at labour, what can I expect, labour wise? I mean for duration, pain relief, tearing etc.

After careI will also ask these questions closer to the time:Can the consultant paediatrician to do initial checks, can I have daily home visits by the midwife for the first 10 daysWhat are the after birth checks?Can I have blood cultures/swabs taken at birth to test for infections?I'm happy with my care plan. It's as thorough as it can be. I'm happy for people to ask questions although I will not tolerate anything rude, judgmental or abusive.

I realised that the first sentence or so of what I type here will show up on twitter when the post is linked there...

So perhaps my first words in these posts shouldn't be about the state of my nipples? Since you asked, they've stopped being painful a few days ago. Thankfully. It's damn cold here at the moment.

I'm quite amazed I've got to 12 weeks. I have my dating scan tomorrow and our first meeting with the consultant to talk about our care plan. It's really scary. I'm going to have to tell people at work tomorrow as well. I feel like the 12 week scan is safe (hah). But I'm showing. People will be noticing and I need to be open about it as otherwise no one will know what to say. I can't bear that awkwardness and I hate secrets. I've been running through possible ways to introduce it and what text to write in my head.. it's hard and upsetting and I don't think people will know just how stressful this whole thing is.

I saw another new midwife on Monday, I didn't like her. She was very clinical, not at all warm. She said I should look at the post mortem report to see when C died because it would be 'interesting'. Fuck off. She asked me about his movements too, and I felt like she was judging me. I did not enjoy that appointment. She had a student midwife with her so I took great pains to explain certain things about what happened, how we reacted and about how I followed the medical advice and guidance and movements to the letter, and it was wrong. As I was doing this I felt like the main midwife was talking over me. She offered to try and find the heartbeat and I think I froze into terror. I want them to try at 14 weeks, knowing that may still be too early. When they try, if they can't find one, I think I might break.

I got my swab results back - they tested for general infections, STIs and thrush. I have none of them. So the good news is I don't have an infection which will kill this baby. The bad news is I still itch - unidentifiable muff rot as I put it. I'll speak to the consultant about it tomorrow.

We went swimming on Sunday. I kind of enjoyed it. When we left I noticed my pelvis and hips were on the wonk. I later found out this is because I was doing breast stroke and you shouldn't do the leg part of breast stroke in pregnancy, because everything down there is so loose and flexible. So that's me told. I'll do normal leg kicks next time.

I think I might put up my care plan on here after the appointment. I think it might be helpful to some people? I hope they date me as closer to 13 weeks tomorrow. I think they might date me as 12+6. Fine by me. The later they date me the sooner this baby comes out. 25 weeks to go.

I'm hacked off and emotional and have had a terrible few days. Long rant about thrush coming up.At the end of my pregnancy with C (late May) I mentioned to the midwife that my bits had started itching. She said it was probably thrush and told me to go get canestan, which I did. It didn't help (but I may not have used it for long enough). I then noticed the itching again a couple of weeks after I had C, so mentioned it to my GP at my post natal check up, she prescribed the oral canestan assuring me that if it was thrush this would kill it. It didn't work.I saw another doctor (who was bloody awful) who checked me, didn't think it was thrush and prescribed me E45 moisturising cream and wash. This didn't work.I saw another doctor (much better) she checked me, thought it was probably thrush, but maybe not. The itching is on the outside, not the inside. She prescribed me mild canestan cream to take for a week to break the itch/scratch cycle and said to come back if it didn't work. It worked for about 3 days, but as soon as I stopped the cream it kept itching.I went to see another doctor, who didn't check me, because I couldn't face it, told me it was probably thrush, prescribed me stronger canestan cream (that is safe to take while pregnant) to break the itch/scratch cycle and said to come back if it didn't work. I was blissfully itch free whilst using the cream. the day after I stopped it came back.

I booked a Dr's appointment today to get a referral to a gynaecologist after a friend told me that perma thrush exists. I got there to find the nurse had changed the appointment to see her, not the doctor, as thrush isn't a Dr's job, queue me telling her I'm pregnant and she being interested and excited and me having to explain my history as I didn't like the way the conversation was going. She checked me, said the discharge looked like thrush but the red area doesn't and took a swab. She told me that stopping the creams can make it itch more as your body reacts to not having the cream.

She referred me back to reception for a Dr's appt there and then. I saw the Dr (a good one), said I have my 12 week scan and consultant appointment next week and will be seeing my obstetric gynaecologist consultant then and she said he can probably treat it. If she were to make a referral it could take weeks. So I see the consultant next week, hope he'll check out my bits and if not I ring my GP again and she'll refer me through to another gynaecologist.I'm fed up. I'm fed up of itching, I'm fed up of Drs telling me different things, I'm concerned that it's not thrush and it's some other horrible disease. I don't think I can manage holding another funeral. I hate this I hate this I hate this.